Public safety

Water-main break halted before houses damaged

SAN DIEGO: Firefighters saved several Mission Hills homes from being flooded after a water main broke yesterday afternoon.

The break was reported about 5 p.m. on Aloha Place near Witherby Street.

San Diego firefighters used about 200 feet of their largest hoses to form a berm across the street to divert the water into a storm drain, said Battalion Chief Bob Steadman of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

The water flow was stopped shortly before 6 p.m., and no homes in the area were damaged. A dozen homes on Aloha Place were expected to remain without water while crews worked through the night to fix the problem, Collins said.

Steadman said some water went into a canyon that drains in the direction of Heritage Park in Old Town and that the park was being monitored.

San Diego Water Department spokesman Arian Collins said the ruptured main was a 4-inch, cast-iron pipe.

City geologist Rob Hawk was at the site to determine whether the water undermined ground stability. –G.G., S.S. & K.D. CRIME WATCH

Mexican soldiers storm home, rescue three men

TIJUANA: Mexican soldiers freed three kidnapped businessmen Wednesday evening after an anonymous tip led them to a home, authorities said at a news conference yesterday.

Soldiers said they encountered little resistance when they stormed the home. They arrested eight men and confiscated 25 guns and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, army officials said.

Based on information gathered at the home, soldiers went to a residence in another neighborhood, where three more men were arrested. They are accused of participating in the attack on the Baja California Attorney General's Office in Tijuana early Wednesday. The attackers apparently were trying to free two colleagues, army officials said.

Three state police officers were wounded as they repelled the attack on the state office.

In interviews, the kidnapped men said they were taken by force while driving in the city, with one of them saying he was first stopped by someone dressed as a police officer on a motorcycle. The men had been held captive for at least 25 days, and one said one of his fingers was cut off.

–J.L.J.

ATM with $32,000 taken from closed grocery store

CHULA VISTA:Thieves made off with $32,000 early yesterday after they broke the glass front doors at a market and stole an automated teller machine.

Surveillance video from the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market showed two men backing a light-colored pickup to the front door of the market, on East H Street near Paseo del Rey, about 4:15 a.m., Chula Vista police Sgt. Ken Heinz said.

The men stepped smashed the glass doors with a rock, wrapped a chain around the ATM and dragged it into the parking lot. They ripped off the machine's cover and took out the container where the money was stored.

They were gone by the time police arrived, about four minutes after the store's alarm went off.

Electronic data from the machine showed that it contained $32,000, Heinz said.

The men were dressed in black and wore gloves, masks and hooded sweat shirts.

It was the second time in less than two months that burglars have targeted an ATM at a Fresh & Easy store. On Oct. 30, burglars in a stolen sport utility vehicle tried to steal an ATM from the Fresh & Easy on Catalina Boulevard in Point Loma.

Surveillance cameras at that store, near Talbot Street, showed four people breaking the glass front door and tying a cable around an ATM, San Diego police said.

They attached the cable to a Chevrolet Suburban and tried to drag the cash machine away, but were only able to remove the machine's cover. No arrests were made.

–D.B.

Driver suspected of being on meth hits pedestrian

CHULA VISTA:A pedestrian was critically injured Wednesday night by a woman suspected of driving under the influence of methamphetamine, police said.

The 44-year-old man was crossing F Street near Broadway about 10:45 p.m. when he stopped in the middle of the street to wait for a car to make a turn, Chula Vista police Sgt. Ken Heinz said.

A woman driving a BMW apparently did not see him, Heinz said.

He suffered major head trauma, several broken ribs and other injuries, Heinz said.

The driver, a 36-year-old Chula Vista resident, stopped and was taken into custody. She faces charges of driving under the influence of drugs, possession of methamphetamine and bringing methamphetamine into a jail, police said.

–D.B.

Body found in ruins of burned-down home

CAMPO: Sheriff's investigators found a body yesterday morning in the ruins of a house that burned to the ground on the Campo Indian Reservation.

The fire was reported about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the house, on Church Road south of Interstate 8 and Old Highway 80, Cal Fire Capt. Nick Schuler said.

On Wednesday, officials said the home's sole occupant was missing and that investigators searched through the debris. But they were hampered by the weather, and a basement full of water had to be pumped out, Schuler said.

The body, believed to be that of a 76-year-old woman, was found yesterday when the search resumed, the Medical Examiner's Office said.

Authorities are still working to confirm the victim's identity. Sheriff's arson investigators said the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but foul play is not suspected.

–D.B. & K.D.

Stepfather sentenced in 3-year-old girl's death

SAN DIEGO COURTS: A man convicted of killing his 3-year-old stepdaughter by punching her in the stomach was sentenced yesterday to 15 years to life in prison.

Christopher Simmons, 24, of Paradise Hills in southern San Diego, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month in connection with the death of Armani Hansberry on April 27. He originally was charged with murder and assault.

The girl's mother, English Simmons, 24, was arrested in Michigan and returned to San Diego in May. She pleaded guilty last month to felony child abuse resulting in death and faces a sentence ranging from probation to as much as eight years in prison.